One ACU number, one call management strategy

A message from the Chief Operating Officer Dr Stephen Weller:

The Telephony Project is driving changes to the experience of making calls to ACU and how these are managed. As part of the university’s continuous improvement efforts, the Service Improvement Team has worked closely with AskACU, Facilities Management and Service Central to review the multiple points for enquiry management via phone.

This review found the following:

• ACU receives more than 200,000 calls each year, and telephone is still the most-used contact channel.
• ACU has multiple public-facing phone numbers for students, staff and the public – a Google search will return a wide range of ACU phone numbers.
• Among the most called ACU numbers are the six Campus Concierge numbers, which are currently managed by Facilities Administrators who deal with a high volume and wide range of enquiries beyond core facilities matters.
• Lack of a central system to collect and report on call data and interactions therefore limits accountability, transparency, and opportunities to improve service performance.
• Multiple public-facing phone numbers has impacted on the simplicity of finding the right number and the right service, and ultimately the caller experience.

The Telephony Project is responsible for delivering three solutions to these challenges: one public-facing ACU contact number, supported by a unified call management strategy, and a unified contact centre telephony solution.

We expect to see the following benefits:

• reduced volume of ACU contact numbers
• increased first-contact call resolution by using a using a single-call management solution
• reduced effort by callers to search for the right number and the right service/person
• fewer abandoned calls
• a single source of truth for call records, which will inform service delivery
• reduced duplication of effort by multiple service units
• an improved and consistent caller experience serviced by experienced teams from AskACU, Service Central and Future Students
• more Service Central knowledge articles to support staff enquiries
• reduced costs for callers – 1300 numbers are a local call rate from most land and mobile lines.
  
  

What to expect from 7 July

There will be three key changes early next month:

• From 7 July, 1300 ASK ACU (275 228) will be adopted as the single, public-facing telephone contact number for the university. This number is a well-branded and highly used contact number that will be used for all phone enquiries.

• On this same day, a unified call management strategy will be launched which will connect students, staff and the public to the right ACU team by selecting from a menu of enquiry options:
  • student-related enquiries will be directed to the AskACU Team
  • enquiries regarding course information and/or studying at ACU will be directed to the Future Students Team
  • staff-related enquiries, including service requests, will be directed to the Service Central Team
  • general enquiries from the public will be directed to the Service Central Team.

• From 7 July, current Campus Concierge numbers will cease to operate as ACU public-facing contact numbers. Calls to these numbers will be automatically redirected to 1300 ASK ACU (275 228).

What these changes mean for staff

Here’s how common staff enquiry needs may be affected from 7 July:

• I want to speak directly to AskACU regarding a student-related enquiry – No change, you can continue to call the AskACU dedicated staff priority line via extension 8282 (03 9230 8282).
• I want to speak directly to Service Central regarding a service request/enquiry – No change, you can continue to call Service Central via extension 7272 (07 3623 7272).
• I want to contact Facilities Management staff – Instead of calling the Campus Concierge number, you can call 1300 ASK ACU and follow the prompts to be directed to the right team who will triage and respond to your query.
• I want to enquire about a campus service or future students, or I have a general enquiry – You can call 1300 ASK ACU and follow the prompts to be directed to the right team, who will triage and respond to your query.
• I want to phone/be connected to another ACU staff member – No change, you can search for staff contact details via the ACU Staff Directory.
• I want to contact Campus Security or I have an emergency – No change, you can contact Campus Security via extension 8888 or 1300 729 452, or use the SafeZone app to contact the National Security Centre directly (in a life-threatening medical situation, call 000).

What these changes mean for students

Students will experience no changes, as they are already using the 1300 ASK ACU (275 228) number for student-related enquiries.

More information

You can send any questions about the Telephony Project to the Service Improvement Team at ServiceImprovement@acu.edu.au.